Three Mobile Contact - Identity Theft

[Oz2025]

At the end of last year my husband received a letter from Three Mobiles confirming a new DD for a phone contract. The sort code was for a Lloyds Bank but he rang the bank and the account didn’t exist. He spoke with Three to tell them it was fraud/identity theft and to close the account down. They opened a case and told him that no further action was required.

This week a bill has arrived for £300. Have spoken with Three (which is a nightmare in itself trying to get hold of them) who are insisting we have to pay as they believe it isn't fraud! Obviously we won’t pay and have told them this. We can’t even speak with their fraud department as they only correspond by email. We spoke with customer service.

I’ve since upgraded my Experian account and can see the loan taken out (also locked any loan requests). Have reported to Experian. I’ve written a complaint letter to Three and their Ombudsman. We will speak to Cutizen’s Advice on Monday when they open.

Has anybody experienced anything similar and can offer any advice/tips of best way forward?

Thanks.

What about a Subject Access request which would make them show you all the documentation?

i know this is an old post but same has happened to me. We’ve just received email saying I’ve ordered new phone and accessories totalling to £1500! 3 aren’t helpful at all and hav said they need to investigate! What was the outcome fir you guys?

In the end they admitted it wasn’t fraud but it was only because we got a journalist on our case. Helen Kirrane from This is Money. She’s done a lot of investigative journalism on this sort of thing. She had about 20 cases with Three. I also wrote to my local MP who was also responsive too. I’m not sure which worked but all of a sudden they backed down.

I would start writing to their CEO and then hopefully she’ll escalate but tbh that department were hopeless too but I just did everything I could.

I really feel for you as it was such a stressful time. We’ve both got credit locks on our names now so are alerted if anyone tries to take out credit.

Really awful company.

Citizens Advice were good too and we sent another letter on their suggestion (and what we needed to say). All the ombudsmen were rubbish.

Thanks for getting back to me 3 has just hit back to me now and admitted that it is fraud. They said it will be resolved within 5 days. We will see!

Can I ask what you found rubbish about the Ombudsman? From your post it seems like you contacted them straight away...usually they would need you to have exhausted the company's official complaints procedure before getting involved...was that not the case?

Forgot to mention Action Fraud who we reported it to. Apparently to quote them ‘misuse of identity cannot be classified as a police crime’. They said only a crime for the company (Three) who were defrauded.

Contacted the their ombudsman after we’d called and tried to sort with Three. I can’t find their response as it came after things were sorted but it was another ‘we don’t consider it a case’. I have no idea why. My MP was prepared to pursue but it was sorted by then and we’d wasted so much time on it all.

The problem is Three are not acknowledging it is fraud but that you actually opened the contract. They wanted us to prove we hadn’t despite the bank account not even existing. They are not doing due checks their end when people open contracts and fill out DD mandates.